Cocaine-mad Sydney celebrates the washing up of bricks of coke on the city’s beaches on Christmas like it’s a Powerball win
New South Wales residents have defiantly welcomed the arrival of bricks of cocaine washed up on east coast beaches.
The first tightly sealed brick appeared at Magenta Beach, on the state’s central coast, at around 8pm on Friday.
Police arrived at the scene and sent the package for analysis, the initial results of which showed the presence of cocaine.
Further searches along the coast on Saturday found a further six packages on beaches stretching from Newcastle to Sydney, including Manly Beach, Avoca Beach and Blacksmiths Beach.
New South Wales residents have defiantly welcomed the arrival of bricks of cocaine washed up on east coast beaches.
Some Australians living in suburbs where drugs have washed up are now joking about rushing to beaches in the hope there is more left.
“Wow, I’ll take a closer look at some of these tomorrow morning when I search for metal. It’s going to be a wonderful Christmas,” one said.
“So it’s a white Christmas on the northern beaches?” said another.
“Damn wrong beach. I told them Freshie! (Freshwater beach),” one wrote.
“Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow,” wrote another.
NSW Police have warned the public not to touch suspicious items on beaches and to contact police immediately.
“Investigators are now urging anyone who may have seen packages similar to those pictured to contact local police,” NSW Police said in a statement.
“The packaging discovered so far has shown significant growth of barnacles covering the outer plastic packaging.
“Police are keen to caution the public against removing or opening any packages.”
Some Australians joked that they would rush to nearby beaches after the opening.
Police urge residents not to touch suspicious objects
Police, who are working closely with Surf Life Saving NSW, continue to search NSW beaches and urge anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Last year Sydney was declared the cocaine capital of Australia.
The Australian Crime Intelligence Commission’s (ACIC) National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program has found that every 1,000 Sydney residents consume an average of 910mg of cocaine each day, the highest in the country.
In December 2021, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found that 275 people had been arrested for cocaine possession across the state since Covid-19.
The majority of Sydney’s cocaine-related arrests were made in the CBD and Sydney’s eastern suburbs, with Randwick and Waverley accounting for the majority of the arrests.